To stagger or not to stagger

Hi!
Nice work with that tool! That’s an amazing discovery for a libGDX newbie :smile_cat:

After been reading a lot in this forum, web wide, github and YouTube tutorials xD now I feel I can start designing comfortably and definitively start coding something to test jejeje, but there’s only one thing (by now) that I still cannot figure how is working and probably may… what’s the difference btw a staggered layers and to offset a layer?? where and why to use each function?

I’ll tell you that I’m wondering make a turn skirmish RPG something like classic Final Fantasy Tactics using an isometric map with 2, maximum 3 floors, being able to go up and down, and attack and throw things above… is a staggered isometric what I need for this objective??
Thanks a lot! Any advice will be so appreciated :slight_smile:

Staggered isometric maps are rectangular, their coordinates roughly correspond to screenspace coordinates, while non-staggered isometric maps make a diamond shape and their coordinates are relative to that diamond.
In a staggered iso map, (0,0) is the top left while (width-1, height-1) is the bottom right, while in a non-staggered iso map, 0,0 is the top of the diamond, and (width-1, height-1) is the bottom.

You should decide which to use based on the shapes of the levels you want. FFT used non-staggered-style maps, they were just floating in a void. Staggered would be good for when you want the map to fill the screen rather than float in the middle of it. So, it’s mainly an art direction choice.


Layer offsets are a completely unrelated feature, the offset just means the layer should be rendered in a different position to where it normally would be. The offsets are in screenspace pixels.
Offsetting layers can be useful if you have some tiles you want aligned differently from others. For example, if you had a “clouds” layer, you could use the layer offset to position it such that the edges of those tiles don’t align with the edges of any of the main tiles, avoiding tangents.

Oh, thanks! So useful masterclass :stuck_out_tongue: it helps me a lot, well, I let you know if it comes out with something decent.
Greetings!